NEW DELHI: Animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi has come in the way of
our soldiers getting trendy and comfortable leather sports shoes. She says
thousands of cows will have to be slaughtered to make sneakers for 1.1
million jawans. But the Army believes that Maneka's objection is a ploy to
"derail the process of procurement".

Some weeks ago, the central government announced the decision to award
contracts for eight lakh pairs of high-quality sneakers replacing the
no-frills brown canvas PT shoes that jawans use. But with Maneka throwing
the spanner in the works, the project is stillborn. The shoe project is
worth Rs 100 crore only in the first phase, when sneakers will be provided
to eight lakh soldiers. More orders would follow.